The Dragons of Eden

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The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence is a 1977 book by Carl Sagan in which the author combines the fields of anthropology , evolutionary biology , psychology and computer science to give a perspective on how human intelligence might have evolved .

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Sagan discusses the search for a quantitative means of measuring intelligence. He argues that the ratio of brain to body mass is an extremely good correlation indicator of intelligence, with humans having the highest proportion and dolphins being the second highest, although he sees the trend as collapsing on smaller scales, with some small animals (especially ants ) disproportionately high high on the list. Other topics include the evolution of the brain (with an emphasis on the function of the neocortex in humans), the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dreams , the demonstration of sign language skills in chimpanzees, and the purpose of mankind's innate fears and myths. The title The Dragons of Eden is borrowed from the idea that man's early struggle for survival in the face of predators, especially the fear of reptiles, may have led to cultural beliefs and myths about dragons .

Awards

The Dragons of Eden won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize in the General Nonfiction category. In 2002, John Skoyles and Dorion Sagan released a follow-up entitled Up from Dragons .

Web links

• The Dragons of Eden on openlibrary.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1978 Pulitzer Prizes. In: Honoring Excellence in Journalism and the Arts. pulitzer.org, accessed January 10, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Up From Dragons | Download [Pdf] / [ePub] eBook. Retrieved January 10, 2020 (American English).